The Brookhaven leader., 1887-10-20
AGRICULTURE.
AN ESSAY BY w. G. SUM-
MEISS, LECTURER OF
THE LINCOLN COUN-
TY FARMERS AL
LANCE.
Read Before the County Alli-
ance Oct. eth, 1887, and Or
dcred Published.

plOyment of mankind"
We regard all useful pursuits rs
noble and enrolling; but if any dis
tinction is to he made, that is most
noble and most ennobling which is
most useful. For this reason Agri-
culture has been placed at the head of
all human cmploymcnts. 1t is GER
taiuly the basis of the rest, without
which they could not stand for a
day.
The cultivation of the earth brings
us into closer communion with nature,
and more direct cooperation with her
creative processes than any other
employment. Is not this one reason
why it SO strengthens and eXalts the
man who engages in it with the earn
est devotion which it should always
command? 1t was the occupation of
Eden whose denizens, fresh from the
hand of God, were placed in that Gar
den to dress and keep it. 1t has been,
still is, and must ever be, the employ
ment of majority of mankind.
But we need not stop here to eulo-
gizc it. Adler pens have done this
and our design is directly practical.
''There seems to be-" the wise Frank
lin says, "but three ways for a nation
to acquire wealth. The first is by
wars, us the Romans did in plundering
their neighbors. This is robbery.
The second is, by commerce, which is
frequently cheating. The third is by
Agriculture, the only honest way
crease of the seed thrown in the
ground, in IL kind of continued mir
acle wrought by the hand of God in
his favor as IL reward for his innocent
life and virtuous industry"
In Agriculture the Creator has
furnished a safe and healthfu1 employ
ment for all men. We believe he has
CHuoNCu CERTAIN lltll Win pCCullll
talents suited to exceptional kind of
business, and the man who possesses
eminent mechanical ingenuity had
better be mechanic. He who is
thoroughly fitted by nature and educa
ton is justified in being a public
teacher, and he who is born to be
distributor of the earth's products
may be merchant, and so on
through the catalogue of purs uits.
But the young man who leaves the
farm field for the merchants desk or
the lawyers or doctors Office, think
Ing to dignity or ennoblc his toll,
makes sad mistake. He barriers Il
natural for an artificial pursuit, and
he must be the slave of the caprice of
customers and the chicanery of trade,
either to support himself or to acquire
fortune. The more artificial mans
pursuit the more debasing is it NOR
ally and physically. TO test it, con
trast the merchants clerk with the
plowboy. The former may have the
most exterior polish, but the latter,
under his rough outside, possesses the
tluer stamina. He is the freer, frank
er, happier, nObler man. Would that
young men might judge the dignity
of labor by its usefulness and man
illness, rather than the superficial
CLOSES it wears. We never see IA
mans nobility i'll his kid-gloves and
toilet adornments, but in that sinewy
arm whose out lines, Drowned by the
sun, betokens a hardy, honest toiler
un der whose farmer's or mechanic's)
vest the kingliest heart may beat.
But the question is frequently asked
in all sincerity, will farming payg is it
n profitable PURSUIT. We answer, yes.
Any legitimate, useful business proper
ly managed will pay, and any business
may readily Ike so conducted az to
lead inevitably to bankruptcy and
ruin.
While facts seem to indicate that
farming is on the whole the safest
and most profitable business now pur-
sued in this cOuntry-yet our best in
formed farmers acknowledge that no
other business is so badly managed.
The merchants would fail if they
managed their business as loosely and
unskillfnlly as amajority of our farm
ers do theirs. This suggests two con-
siderations which hold good in every
case. First, a thorough training in
our pursuits with Il love for it, has
much to do with our success in farm
! ing. Then IL mans individual expert
ence being limited, he SHOULD have the
practical aid and knowledge to be de
rived from books and agricultural
papers, that he may profit by the ex-
perience of others. Men must first
be educated III their profession and
avail themselves of the best general
information and the experience of
this progressive age. Secondly, en-
ergy, industry and economy are all re-
quisite to success in agriculture. 1t rs
wisely said, "That all that is wanted
| to make fortunes is first the idea and